In the present contribution to the History of Translation we consider critically the emergence and integration of Translation Studies as an academic discipline and the role of both Translation History and Translation Historiography. An analysis of what this discipline was before its acceptance into academia and proposals for what its role should be within a humanistic oriented curriculum for future professionals derives from the reception, clearly unsatisfactory, of its status as academic knowledge. Given the specificity of the Latin American situation (in no other region of the world translation has played a greater identitary role), we have added an appendix on the History of Translation in the region.